


Growing Up in Ealdor

by jillc



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Growing Up, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 15:45:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13593282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jillc/pseuds/jillc
Summary: This is a selection of stories I did on Merlin growing up in Ealdor. A lot feature his friend Will, and also his mother Hunith. This is Merlin's story before he left to discover his destiny in Camelot.





	1. Chapter 1

There was a time when Merlin wanted to disappear. He would pretend to run away, off into the woods he’d go, trying to lose his way. He would wait till the sun was starting to go down, before slowly trailing on back home, head down, wondering what on earth he would say to his mother Hunith. The first time it happened Hunith was out of her head with worry, she and her neighbours went out searching everywhere for Merlin, calling his name. Eventually shame faced he appeared back, his eyes full of tears, Hunith not knowing whether to tell him off or hug him, such was her relief, at finding him.

“Where did you go Merlin?” she asked tears in her eyes, looking straight into his eyes. “I was so worried, please don’t do that again.”

He wanted to tell her why, to explain, but he felt so ashamed at putting her through such worry, he was unable to. Instead he would stare at her mournfully his blue eyes wide open, staring into hers.

“Never mind my boy, you’re here now.” Hunith smiled, “we’ll have some dinner.”

Merlin managed a smile as his mother got to work, he loved to sit at the window, of their little hut, and stare out into the world outside. At least here he could come to no harm, at least here none of the things that happened outside, would happen here. 

He felt safe and secure, his mother never far away, always smiling at him. He longed to tell her of his worries, his fears, but he felt so alone at times. He had no idea how she would react, would she think him mad? Maybe even give him away, if she found out what had been happening to him recently. He shuddered at the thought; his mother was everything to him. She’d been there from the start for him, loved him, fed him, everything she did, was for Merlin. He loved her so much, that at times it hurt. Yet he knew that sooner or later he would have to tell her, his biggest fear. A fear so big, that at times, it stopped him sleeping at night. He closed his eyes and longed for the days, when the only thing he worried about, was enough sunlight to play outside in. How innocent those day seemed like now.

The next morning after another sleepless night, Merlin decided that today he must face his fear, and tell his mother of his worries. As if knowing something was wrong, Hunith had sat down by Merlin’s side, and ruffled his hair.

“You know how much you mean to me, my boy?” she asked a sad smile on her lips.

Merlin nodded, feeling suddenly very emotional, “I need to talk to you.” He said

Hunith nodded “What is it Merlin?” she asked already fearing she knew.

“I don’t want you thinking I’m mad,” he began, “I’m not –“he paused

“Merlin I would never think that you know that.” Hunith implored looking him straight in the eyes.  
“I don’t know what’s going on any more.” He began, “Things are starting to happen to me that I don’t understand.” He said, begging her to understand him.

“What things son?” she asked.

“I can move objects just by looking at them, not only that, but other things, close doors, I even started a fire in the woods. Only by accident, I’m scared mother.”

Hunith looked her son in the eyes, “Merlin you are not mad. You have a special talent; you were born with it, magic.”

“Magic?” the little boy asked. “I have magic?” he breathed “Why didn’t you tell me before?” he asked.

“I suppose I wanted to protect you, not everyone will welcome it, Merlin. Some people fear it, it’s important that we keep it a secret.”

Merlin nodded suddenly feeling a strange contentment; he had magic he thought to himself. At last he felt the mist begin to clear, from his mind. At last he began to feel that he was not a monster anymore.


	2. Fears and Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Merlin's magic almost has dire consequences for Will, he realises the depth of power that he holds within him, and wonders if he will ever be able to make sense of them.

He felt as if he’d been running for hours. As he collapsed in a heap on the forest floor, he could only see through a blur. Nothing was clear any more he could feel the shadows all gathering around him, as the first of the light began to fade. As he remembered the terrifying incident all he wanted to do was cry. 

“I really am a monster.” he said, out loud, but there was no one else to hear him. He closed his eyes wanting to block out the look of terror his friend Will had thrown his way. As he relived the incident the branch flying through the air, towards Will it was all he could do, not to cry out again. 

What must Will think of him now? He could have killed him, what was it about his magic, that at times made it seem so frightening to him? Could it be the suddenness of it arriving? The way it burst out of him like water from a dam? The way he struggled to control it; whenever his emotions were fraught? 

As he ran through the questions that were running through his mind, the world around suddenly appeared very cold. Usually this would be his little home from home. A place he could easily connect too, a little paradise away from the big, bad world that sometimes seemed so heartless.

It was bad enough that he feared his magic at times, but at moments like this he realised there was no escaping it. It didn’t matter that his mother would hug him, and tell him that he was wrong. At times like these, Merlin knew she was wrong. If he had been able to take a step away, he could maybe have reasoned why he felt this way. But he knew he could not, his magic was always with him, and there was nothing he could do to change that fact. 

He sat up hugging his knees together, as he looked around him. It was getting ever darker, but he had no ambition to try and go home. His mother would only try and tell him that things would get better. But Merlin knew they would not. It was then that it hit him in his isolation. It would always be like this. How could he share his magic with anyone? Even in Ealdor he was forced to hide away like an escaped convict with something to hide.

He had been planning to confess all to Will, for he was desperate for one person at least to know the truth. They were close friends now and Merlin hated not being honest with him. Ever since Will had lost his father he had been a shadow of himself. At a time like this they should have been closer, but now he had wrecked it forever. He cursed himself again. The tears began to fall through his fingers, like raindrops from the sky. 

He lay his head back on a tree, closing his eyes wishing that just for once he could control his fragile emotions. He felt so out of it, that he didn’t hear the footsteps. It was only when two hands took hold of his, that Merlin flung himself upright, his eyes turning a light orange, but this time Will did not run away, and more to the point this time Merlin’s magic did not burst out.

“It’s all right Merlin.” Will said, a small smile on his lips. “I knew something about you was different, not for one moment did I think you were a sorcerer!”

“I am sorry Will.” Merlin replied, suddenly needing to explain himself. “I just couldn’t help myself, my magic sometimes just bursts out of me with no warning.”

“So I see!” Will laughed. “Next time I will be careful what I say.”

“It’s no joke. I could have killed you.” Merlin said, tears in his eyes. “Sometimes I get so afraid Will, more afraid than I’ve ever been in my life. It is like it control’s me. Surely it shouldn’t be like that?”

Will looked at him for a second. “I can’t give you the answer I’m sorry Merlin. But I swear no one will ever know about your magic from me.”

It was then that it suddenly occurred to Merlin, how life changing the incident had become. His mother had forbid him to tell anyone about his gift, but now someone did know. He realised his mother would be horrified. It was not that he didn’t trust his friend, but more what his mother would do, on finding out. He knew she would be angry.

“Please Will you must not tell anyone. If my mother knew I don’t know what she’d do.” Merlin begged, his friend.

“I’ve already promised you I won’t tell anyone. You believe me don’t you?” Will asked.

Merlin looked at his friend intently as their eyes locked together he knew his secret would be safe. He nodded, feeling the tears dry up at last.

Will pulled him to his feet a mischievous smile on his face.

“Come on sorcerer.” He whispered, “Let’s get you back home.”

Merlin smiled back, “Thanks Will.”


	3. Reverse Powers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This story is lighter in tone. When Will's mother tells her son to start packing some of his stuff away, Will challenges Merlin to use his powers to do the task for him. Things though do not go to plan.

Merlin hadn’t seen Will in almost a week. His mother Hunith had explained best she could, that since Will had lost his father, Will’s mother needed as much support as Will could give her. Merlin had sat down a lot and contemplated just what his friend was going through. He found it hard to know what it was like to be without a father, as Merlin had never known one. But if he even so much as tried to imagine what it would be like without Hunith, it upset him so much that he immediately had to stop. Therefore he reckoned he understood that life was pretty rough for his friend just now.

With autumn coming to its end Merlin spent a lot of time in the woods near his home, collecting wood for the coming winter. He loved his time spent outside as he felt completely at one with his surroundings. It was something he could never quite explain to anyone else, even his mother. She would nod and do her best to understand, but Merlin knew deep down, she could not appreciate totally why he felt so at home outside. Every change of mood, the difference in the direction of a sudden breeze, the way nature responded to every change of season. Merlin felt at ease with it all. There was a time when he felt a fear of the outdoors. But now that he was beginning to understand his powers, he suddenly felt more at ease with the world generally. There was a time when his powers made him feel like a monster, but now he felt as though he was beginning to control them and not the other way around. All of a sudden he could not wait to test what he could do. Every day was a journey to see what he could achieve, an adventure that only he knew about.

He would often take short cuts with his chores now. Why spend endless hours collecting firewood, when he could bring a branch down in seconds? More time to spend on honing his skills. Of course he had to be careful no one else saw. Only his friend Will knew of Merlin’s powers, not that his mother was aware of that. Merlin truly feared Hunith ever finding out that Will knew. But Merlin knew that Will would never tell anyone, they had always looked after one another, and always would. Having collected enough wood Merlin sat down and put his new powers to the test.

His latest discovery had been, being able to move objects. He had noticed it by accident, as his mother complained about his room. He had sat on his blanket on the floor and fed up, his eyes had coloured and before he knew it, numerous objects had taken flight. Mesmorised by the sight, at first he’d been stunned, then he suddenly panicked and everything had fallen onto the floor, much to his shame. Hunith had come running in wondering what had happened, to be greeted by the sight of her son, on the floor picking up bits and pieces of various objects. One a vase that had been a present from his Grandmother.

“Oh Merlin what happened?” she cried

“I’m sorry it just happened every thing just took off, I didn’t even do anything.” He had said, unsettled and upset at the same time.

Whenever anything had happened like this Hunith would hug her son to her, kissing the top of his head, Merlin would snuggle into her embrace feeling safe and secure, and screw his eyes tightly shut, as if afraid to open them in case something else happened. Yet once after the initial shock Merlin would take his time to attempt to understand what had happened to him. To try and repeat it on a smaller scale so he could learn to keep his powers in his control. 

Having spent some time forcing his axe to take flight Merlin reluctantly made plans for home. He put the wood in a sack and slowly walked back in the direction of home. Suddenly a voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Merlin what are you doing?”

“Hi Will, how you doing?” Merlin asked going over to Will. Will was usually outgoing and loud, Merlin couldn’t help but notice his friend was a lot quieter and also looked sad.

“My father died, two weeks ago.” Will replied sitting down on a stump of a tree and throwing a pebble into the nearby stream.

“I heard I’m sorry. I wanted to go round and see you, my mother said to give you some space.”

Will nodded. “We are having to move to somewhere smaller. In fact I have to go home and pack shortly. It will take me forever.”

“I will come round and give you a hand if you want.” Merlin suggested attempting to cheer Will up.

“Do you really want to?” Will asked eyeing Merlin closely, it’s the most dull thing to do.” He said, “and it will take forever, I never knew I had so much stuff.”

“Where are you moving to, nearby I hope.” Merlin said suddenly concerned.

“Only across the meadow on the other side.” Will said, “I saw it yesterday you could only get two people in it.”

“Just as well there’s only you and your mum then.” Merlin smiled, “sorry, that wasn’t very tactful of me.” He grimaced.

Will laughed “Always the same Merlin always putting your foot in it.” 

They both laughed, to be greeted by Will’s mother Anna with boxes in her hand.

“Hello Merlin, nice to see you, hope Hunith is well.”

“Yes she is and I’m sorry about.”

Anna cut into his sentence before he could finish, as if reluctant to acknowledge the event. “Thank you. What are you two up to?” she asked

“Merlin here is going to help us pack.” Will smiled, noticing the horrified look on his friends face as he discovered the amount of stuff waiting to be packed away.

“That is nice of you Merlin. Well I have you visit my mother for half an hour if you get even a quarter of that packed away I know you are a miracle worker Merlin.” She smiled at Merlin and Will as she left.

“Well come on let’s get started.” Will laughed grabbing hold of a box and throwing things into it. 

“Will you can’t just throw things in like that, there has to be some sort of order.”

“Well since you’re the expert show me.” Will said

Merlin went over to the plates and carefully put them in a box, and then collected some of the ornaments carefully packing them away in another box.

“Come on Merlin you can do better than that. We could do this in half the time if you used your magic.” He suggested with a smile.

“Oh Will I don’t know about that.” Merlin said “I can’t just use it for anything.”

“You said only the other month, there is never enough time to practice.” Will remarked, pointing outside “we could go and play then outside.”

Merlin thought about it, he supposed he had been practicing moving objects recently, maybe this would give him a chance to improve his technique. 

“Okay I will give it a go.” Merlin agreed, “but I’m only just learning about this Will I’ve not perfected it yet.” He warned. His friend waved away his concerns.

Merlin closed his eyes, trying to remember the spell, he focused remembering it, then opened his golden eyes. Suddenly everywhere objects were moving into the awaiting boxes. Will watched it all amazed, looking at his friend with respect and amazement. Wow he really could do anything Will thought to himself.

The spell continued for a good ten minutes by which time most of the room had been packed away. Will ran around laughing

“That is amazing Merlin, when my mother comes home she is going to think we are a pair of magicians!” he laughed slapping his friend on the shoulder.

Suddenly a cold dread took hold of Merlin what had he done? Will’s mother was not an idiot he thought to himself. She is going to wonder how they managed to clear most of the house out, in such little time. Not for the first time Merlin realised that there was always a risk to using a magic spell, a risk he didn’t always appreciate.

“Right I think we should empty a couple of boxes Will. I mean she is going to be suspicious of how we have done so much.” He stammered.

“Are you crazy.” Will exclaimed “we’ve almost cleared the house out, we can go and play for a bit.”

“Maybe just empty a couple of boxes.” Merlin argued.

“You are panicking Merlin, why would she be suspicious?” Will asked shrugging.

“It’s not your head on the block Will.” Merlin said, suddenly picturing himself being led away, condemned for his magic. 

Merlin pulled two boxes into the middle and attempted to reverse the spell. He sat and watched the boxes suddenly empting themselves in front of his eyes. He smiled in satisfaction.

“What is going on?” Will cried out suddenly.

Merlin looked around to discover that every single other box was also emptying it’s contents onto the floor as well. He jumped up exasperated. What went wrong? He thought.

“Stop it it’s going to look as if we have done nothing.” Will objected.

Suddenly Merlin was stuck to the floor, not having an idea about what to do? Could he counteract one spell over another he wondered? Merlin panicked being totally unsure about what to do. He sat down dejectedly as virtually every object had now emptied itself around the room.

“Great.” Will said, “here’s my mother, she’s going to be well impressed.” He mused.

“I thought you two were suppose to be packing some stuff away for me?” Anna said. “It looks worse than it did, before I left.”

“Merlin’s fault, it ends up he is not as good as packing as he claims to be.” Will said.

“Sorry.” Merlin apologised.

“Well the pair of you can start now.” Anna said. “You can do this lot tonight.”

Will sighed.

“Sorry Will.” Merlin apologised, feeling suddenly deflated, sometimes having magic wasn’t always straight forward he thought to himself. As he left Will’s house a few hours later, he wondered if he would ever perfect it in the way he wanted. Why is life so complicated he thought.


	4. The Beginning of the Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merlin bades farewell to Ealdor in this story. With his secret out, Hunith has sent him to Camelot. Merlin misses his friend Will, and wonders if he will ever understand why he had to leave.

Merlin gave a last look around at his home village. Suddenly the world he was leaving seemed a whole lot more comforting than the one he was moving into. He recalled his last conversation with his mother Hunith. He could see how hard it was for her to let go, but she seemed determined to not let him see any weakness or any tears she must have been feeling. With both her hands on his shoulders she looked him in the eyes, assuring him it was the best thing he could do.

In Camelot he could become someone. Ealdor was so small, people living on top of one another almost. Hunith was so mad that Will had found out about Merlin’s magic. She was terrified that someone else would spot Merlin’s secret. She had a cruel vision of Merlin being burned alive, lately it had haunted her, and she knew that the time had come for Merlin to make his own way in the world. He had been given his talents for a reason, she hoped that by sending her son to Gaius in Camelot, he would be able to guide her son to use his unique gifts in the correct way. As he continued to walk, Merlin could see his mother’s figure reseeding with every step he took. He swallowed back his tears, not daring to wave in case his confidence deserted him. He knew she had made great sacrifices for him, and he owed to her to make the most of his chance at his new home.

He grimly walked on, face set determined to concentrate on his future from this moment on. The shadows of the trees darkened his path, at times, so much so it almost seemed like evening, rather than the middle of the day. Not for the first time he tried to imagine what his future would be, where his destiny would ultimately lead him. So engrossed was he, that when the familiar voice cut into his thoughts he jumped visibly on the spot.

“So you really are going then Merlin?” Will came up to him, his face almost accusing, yet his eyes emotional, hurt almost.

“I have no choice Will, I can’t stay here.” Merlin shifted uncomfortably wishing now that he’d tried to seek Will out to explain his reasons. Their relationship always so close since boys, had changed since Will found out about Merlin having magic.

“I would never tell anyone of your magic you know that?” Will said as though trying to get a burden out of his mind, yet sounding instead defensive.

“I know that of course Will,” Merlin replied “but I cannot stay in Ealdor, I no longer feel I belong here, I feel I just have to follow another path now, one that can’t be followed here. I will miss you though Will. It would mean a lot to me, if you could try and understand why I have to go.”

As the two of them looked at each other, Will made a decision on the spot, and smiled at his friend.

“You’re probably right Merlin, Ealdor is too boringl for a person like you. I will miss you, don’t forget me will you?” 

Merlin swallowed back emotion, embracing his friend briefly.

“I’ll always remember you Will, and I’ll be back one day, I promise. Take care, and try and stay out of Old Man Simmon’s hair.” He laughed.

“I seem to recall it was you who had that problem Merlin.” Will laughed back. “Make sure you look after yourself, and never take a step back.”

“I won’t Will, goodbye.” Merlin smiled, quickly turning round as he felt emotion, briefly threatening to overcome him.

As he began to walk away, a sudden new positive feeling began to take him over. Realising that the last hurdle had been overcome, he started to embrace the journey he was now on. From this day forward, he would find where his true destiny lay, and for the first time, he could feel an excitement overcome the fears. Camelot here I come.


End file.
